


The Cat's Fiancé

by Quiet_Shadow



Series: Summer Days Prompts [16]
Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Different Curses, Gen, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 10:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15313083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quiet_Shadow/pseuds/Quiet_Shadow
Summary: AU.Genma and Ranma Saotome have finally arrived at the Tendo Dojo! Soun couldn't be happier -- though the whole curse thing is dampering his mood. But nevermind, it can be solved later; now the only thing left to do is choosing who, among his three sons, will be young Ranma's fiancé.





	The Cat's Fiancé

“So you change into a c…” Soun Tendo stopped himself at the look and frantic silent flailing of his old friend Genma as well as the tetanized look on his daughter’s face. He coughed to mask his uneasiness. Such a fear of cats in someone was unhealthy and unexpected and he wondered briefly what could have happened to make Genma’s daughter fear them so much. Ah, but there would always be time to ask questions later. What mattered now was to get that engagement on the rails. “… You change into a four-legged furry animal when splashed with cold water, and hot water turns you back into a girl, is that so?”

Ranma Saotome nodded weakly, looking uncertain. “Hot water, not boiling,” she warned, having seen the kettle used on her father. Soun felt himself grinning.

“Well, your problem isn’t so terrible after all!” he laughed. It could have been much worse than a cat, after all. And besides, it didn’t stop her from having children… or did it? No, not now, he squashed the thought away ruthlessly. And it wasn’t a conversation to have with a young girl; he’ll have it with Genma later. Much later.

He turned toward his children, a hand on the shoulder of Genma’s daughter.

He gestured to the brown-haired, ponytailed boy at one end of the line. “My son Kazuki, nineteen.” His eldest blinked calmly, seeming hardly fazed by all the drama. In theory, as the eldest son, Kazuki was the better suited for inheriting the Dojo. Sadly for his father, he had never held much into martial arts besides the basics. Instead, he was more interested in Chi and traditional medicine and caressed the hope to become a doctor. Not that Soun saw anything wrong with that; a doctor in the family could be a great asset – and it would be handy for the Dojo students.

Then he gestured to the middle boy, brown-haired like his older brother but with a short haircut instead and bangs framing his face. “My son Naomori, seventeen.” Soun’s middle boy just raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. Another son who only had a passing interest in the Dojo and Sound suspected that when he did paid it any mind, Naomori thought more about its monetary value and how much he could eventually sell it. Over Soun’s dead body, though! If he wanted to become an accountant or a businessman, though, Sound saw no reason to oppose him. It would be nice knowing one of his sons had wealth.

Finally he gestured to the third boy, black-haired like Soun himself and long-haired like Kazuki. “My son Akane, sixteen.” Soun’s youngest frowned unhappily. Soun loved all his sons dearly, but Akane was his pride and choice, the only one of the three boys who was an avid martial artist like his old man and the most likely to succeed him at the Dojo. He had a bit of a temper, of course, but boys his age always had!

Soun wouldn’t push young Ranma in any direction, but if she picked Akane… “Pick the one you want, he’s your fiancé!” he announced happily, making his sons stutter.  
“Father/Dad/Daddy!!!”

Soun scratched his cheek, suddenly remembering it wasn’t quite the way things were supposed to go. “Ah, yes, it’s you who should pick up, I know but…” Perhaps he should have waited to ask. It had been a trying evening for everyone and his sons hadn’t been happy with the idea he had engaged them (or at least one of them) without their prior knowledge. Now, they were good boys and wouldn’t disobey their Father, but…

“Oh, but it’s not a problem, Father,” Kazuki said sweetly. “I’m sure she’ll be picking Akane.”

“Oh yes, definitely,” Naomori nodded patting his younger brother’s shoulder.

“You must be joking! Why would _I_ …?!”

“Well… you like cats, don’t you?” Naomori pointed out. Ranma gave a full body shudder and darted panicked eyes around.

“You’re so in luck, she’s half-cat,” Kazuki smiled.

“Me? Marry that pervert? Never!”

Ranma snapped. “Eh! Who do you call a pervert here?!”

Akane’s eyes glowed in fury. “You looked at my naked body!”

“That was an accident!” The black-haired pigtailed girl snapped. “In case you forgot, I was trying to leave before you removed your clothes. And if there is a pervert here, it’s you! Who let a girl look at him naked, uh?”

“You should I jumped out of my arms the moment you heard me say I was going to take a bath! Unless you’re deaf atop of being a tomboy!”

“Tomboy?! And what are you, exactly? A femboy? What kind of name is Akane for a boy anyway?!”

Genma laughed, clasping Soun’s shoulder. “They’re already a perfect couple, aren’t they, Tendo?”

“Quite,” the other man agreed, though his amusement was lesser. There was potential in the couple, he could see it in the way they argued, but perhaps they should leave them a little free room, allow them to better known each other…

“Goodbye,” Ranma finally stated, turning on her heels.

“Eh? Where do you think you’re doing, girl?

“Back to China! To find a way to change back for good! I have no time for a ‘fiancé’.”

“Oh, there is no need to go as far as China,” Genma waved. “I took the opportunity to bring back some Nyanniichuan water with me as a…”

Soun had never seen someone move so fast. Ranma held her father’s gi in her hand, looking pissed and hopeful. “You have Nyanniichuan? You had Nyanniichuan all that time?! How could you not tell me?!”

“I intended it to be a wedding gift! Now if you would just…”

“Where? Where? Where?” Ranma asked frantically as she threw herself at her father’s abandoned backpack and started to search inside.

“Now you see here, girl!” Genma growled as he tried to take back the possession of the backpack.

“Shouldn’t we separate them?” Kazuki asked, chin in his hand and looking slightly concerned.

Soun opened his mouth to answer. The next few seconds seemed to pass like an eternity.

There was the sound of the old, ratty backpack finally tearing in the tug-of-war between father and daughter. The sound of spilled content on the floor – clothes, rolls, an empty bento box, bottles of water. He turned just in time to see a half-opened bottle fly in the air, spinning and starting to spill its content as it did. He followed it with his eyes as he started to go down… and hit someone on its trajectory.

Soun blinked slowly. Breathed in and several times, trying to keep calm. Felt his jaw falls open in shock.

“Oh my! Akane, are you alright?”

“Bro? That's you?”

Akane didn’t answer. He was staring ahead with the tell-tale look of shock that Soun himself must have been spotting. Black hair had turned red. He had lost several inches in size – and gained several inches of curves as well. His gi hanged wrong over his… HER body.

Genma and Ranma had stopped fighting.

Soun turned toward his old friend, his one true companion through the training of hell they had undergone under Happosai and did something he had never, ever done before toward his dear friend. Ranma backed off with a cry of fright as a giant demon head seemed to materialize in the air.

“GEEEEEEEENNNNMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, perhaps making Ranma falls into the Spring of Drowned Cat was a bit harsh.
> 
> I'm far from being an expert on Japanese, but if I believe some of the translations I have seen, Kazuki can mean 'someone in harmony/someone peaceful' while Naomori can mean 'prosper honestly' -- which, for a Nabiki-equivalent, is quite amusing to consider. ^^


End file.
